Introduction:The nurse is extremely important in the urgency and emergency service through which the initial assessment is carried out in the risk classification, it requires a clinical look, logical reasoning to make quick decisions, in addition to this professional playing the role of leadership, staffing and coordination of the assistance process, with a view to greater responsibility, which ends up differing from other categories that are limited to a single type of assistance. Goal: To search for the main actions/performance of nurses denoting their effectiveness in emergency/ urgency services through a bibliographical review of Brazilian literature. Method: This is a bibliographical review, which aims to research and explain issues through scientific literature, which were selected by inclusion and exclusion criteria, in order to analyze the data, identifying the importance of their duties in the aforementioned services. Discussion: A total of 9 articles were selected that met the objective and the following themes emerged: nurses' role in the emergency service, the importance of continuing education and the working conditions of professionals in these services", which well portray the main characteristics of professionals who work in emergencies. Conclusion: Nurses carry out their activities in a climate of unpredictability and uncertainty and are able to maintain concentration and make decisions that are fundamental to care. They understand that in order to provide quality assistance, professionals must have adequate working conditions, resources and processes. It denotes the professional's ability in pandemic situations, among others, adaptation and resolution within short deadlines. For assistance with safety, continuing education is required.